1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mobile communication terminal remote control system, a mobile communication terminal, a remote control method, and a remote control program. More particularly, the invention relates to a mobile communication terminal remote control system, a mobile communication terminal, a remote control method, and a remote control program, which are suitable for use, for example, in the case where personal data and the like of a user are stored in a mobile communication terminal, and enable personal data, which the user of the mobile communication terminal desires to conceal, to be masked under remote control, for example, upon the loss or stealing of the mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In mobile communication terminals such as portable telephones (cellular phones) and PHS (personal handyphone system), an increase in functions has led to an increasing tendency toward storage of important personal data of a user, for example, received mails and telephone directory and mail address data prepared by the user, in his or her own mobile communication terminal.
As shown, for example, in FIG. 1, this type of conventional portable telephone comprises an antenna 1, a transmission/reception part 2, a control unit 3, an operating part 4, a transmission part (a microphone) 5, a reception part (a speaker) 6, ROM (read only memory) 7, RAM (random access memory) 8, and a display part 9. The antenna 1 transmits and receives radio waves. The transmission/reception part 2 modulates voice or data into radio waves and transmits the radio waves through the antenna 1. Further, the transmission/reception part 2 receives radio waves through the antenna 1 and demodulates the received radio waves into voice or data. The control unit 3 controls the whole portable telephone. The operating part 4 includes a transmission button, a conversion button for English character/kana (the Japanese syllabary)/kanji (Chinese character)/numeral, an on/off button for a power supply, a cross-shaped button for cursor operation, and an end button. The transmission part 5 converts the user's voice to an electric signal. The reception part 6 transmits the voice obtained by the demodulation to the user. ROM 7 records a control program for operating the control unit 4 and further stores character information or illustration information for display on the display part 9. RAM 8 stores, for example, input data, for example, telephone directory and mail address data, generated by the operating part 4 and mails received in the transmission/reception part 2.
In this portable telephone, radio waves sent from a radio base station (not shown) are received in the transmission/reception part 2 through the antenna 1 and are demodulated into voice or data. The voice obtained by the demodulation is transmitted to the user through the reception part 6, and the data obtained by the demodulation is displayed on the display part 9. When the data obtained by the demodulation is a mail, the data is stored in RAM 8. When a telephone directory, a mail address or the like has been prepared in the operating part 4, the telephone directory or the mail address is stored in RAM 8. When a mail has been prepared in the operating part 4, the mail is transmitted to the radio base station through the transmission/reception part 2 and the antenna 1.
The above conventional portable telephone has the following problems.
The spread of portable telephones has led to a tendency toward an increase in the loss of portable telephones. This poses a problem that the telephone directory or mail address data stored in RAM 8 of the lost portable telephone are illegally used by a finder of the lost portable telephone and, consequently, for example, a mischief caused by using the data evilly takes place. A conventional measure for avoiding this problem is to call the lost portable telephone for asking the finder for the return of the found portable telephone to the user, or to ask the telephone company for the stop of communication function of the portable telephone. For example, in the case of TDMA (time division multiple access), upon the receipt of the request for the stop of the communication functions, the channel in a time zone allotted to the portable telephone, of which the communication functions should be stopped, is masked. When the stop of communication functions is requested to the telephone company, communication functions such as telephone or mail functions of the portable telephone can be stopped. Disadvantageously, however, telephone directory and mail address data stored in RAM 8 cannot be concealed. For this reason, at the present time, there are no useful measures for avoiding, for example, mischievous acts which use these data evilly.